Dany (Kostas Nikouli), the saucy 15-year-old boy who lights up Panos H. Koutras’s exuberant road movie “Xenia,” is a flouncy gay provocateur. First seen being serviced by a much older man, he wears his bleached blond hair swept over one eye, has a pierced septum and is addicted to sweets. For much of the film, he is shown sucking on a lollipop like a pouty 5-year-old. Dany keeps a pet rabbit named Dido and is obsessed with the Italian pop diva Patty Pravo.

The story begins just after the death of Dany’s alcoholic, Albanian mother, Jenny, in Crete. His brother Ody, a.k.a. Odysseas (Nikos Gelia), who is two years older, has already moved to Athens. Jenny led such a careless, dissolute life that her sons’ parentage is not legally certified, and her death leaves them potentially stateless. When Dany was 2, the boys’ father, Lefteris (Yannis Stankoglou), walked out on them, leaving behind no money or forwarding address, and disappeared. He is referred to as “the Unspeakable.”

Dany has two goals: to persuade his brother, a wonderful natural singer, to audition for an “American Idol”-like television show that he is sure Ody can win singing a Patty Pravo hit, and to find and confront their biological father.

At 2 hours and 8 minutes long, “Xenia,” the director’s fourth feature, may be unwieldy. It has an unnecessary romantic subplot involving Ody’s relationship with a Ukrainian girl. “Xenia” has been called a farce. But it is much more than that. Both the story and the performances are packed with raw emotion. Dany’s behavior may be outlandish and irritating, but you applaud his courage.

On the brothers’ first stop, they visit Tassos (Aggelos Papadimitriou), an old friend and possibly former lover of Jenny’s who is now living with a male partner. Many years earlier, Tassos met the Unspeakable, who he believes has changed his last name and is now a wealthy right-wing politician. Although the movie never refers directly to the Greek debt crisis, the brothers visit a once-grand hotel that has become a hollow shell.

The film’s emotional glue is the bond between two brothers of opposite temperament who in their various ways rescue each other in times of trouble. Between them, there is an undercurrent subtext of sexual attraction, mostly on Dany’s part. Ody has a hairy chest, a fetish of Dany’s, and when Ody is undressed, Dany surreptitiously gawks at him. In one scene, they get drunk and wildly dance together. The movie knows just when to stop before their affectionate horseplay turns into incest.

Ody, who is straight, can lose patience with Dany’s defiant flamboyance, which more than once lands him in serious danger. Dany invites verbal abuse, because it allows him to unleash stinging verbal counterattacks that drive bullies into rages. To his brother’s horror, Dany, before leaving Crete, found a gun, which more than once he brandishes in a fit of hysteria. As much as you fear for Dany, you admire the crazy recklessness of a boy who insists on being himself.

The films of Pedro Almodóvar, especially the early ones, exalt a similar spirit of heedless abandon and liberation from restraint, a similar go-for-broke enthusiasm. That spirit is contagious. You come away from “Xenia” feeling a bit more alive and ready to throw caution to the wind.